Most Helpful Customer Reviews

Mystic your Heart is the follow up of BSC's awsome debut album: Silence of Northern Hell. This record is, in my opinion, superior to Silence(see my review of Silence for more info on that album) but also quite different. Mostly by introducing a more electronic vibe (without overdoing it) rather than the more gothic/organ sounding keybord of their first LP but still keeping the MeloDeath structure intact. Another big difference is the production value. Dispite the recording sounding a little ­­"boxed in" compared to other metal albums, everything sounds far superior than their first album.It was co-produced in Finland and it shows. The songs are a bit on the short side for a metal band but the good side of this is that you never get tired of listening to them. The songs stucture is also quite simple and is repeated throughout the album. So progressive metal lovers should not pick this up. The strong points of the LP are the speed and the melodies. There are no fillers, you like one song, you like them all. That may point out a lack of originality but it works for me. Also pointing out, their are no emo-like clean vocals (unlike their following album, Idolator, on which they totaly went the Metalcore/Emo way (much like what In Flames have been doing these past few years)and guess what? it sucks.So, you like your metal fast, with very strong melodies and screaching vocals then you'll love Mystic your HeartI know it's quite expensive, but if you get only one taste of BSC's music in your life then let it be this record.

My story with Blood Stain Child goes waaaaay back to the kazaa days when I downloaded the “Silence of Northern Hell” music video after stumbling upon the band through Children of Bodom here on amazon.com. Shortly thereafter, I downloaded the two samples from this album available from the band’s website – “Clone Life” and the title track. Still not owning any Blood Stain Child albums myself, I shelled out the $30+ as a birthday present for a friend in November 2004. The following year, I downloaded samples from Idolator and got that as a birthday present. I passed on Mozaiq after hearing how the vocals went from mostly growling to mostly –core screaming, but I was quick to the variety of offerings on εpsilon. Of all the Japanese metal bands, Blood Stain Child remains closest to the heart of my core regular-listening bands (far ahead of X-Japan, though Balflare and Galneryus are catching up).

Personal background aside, many people know by now what they’re going to hear when turning on Blood Stain Child. Well, maybe not. Just as Balflare’s albums can parallel Sonata Arctica’s albums, early Blood Stain Child can parallel Children of Bodom:

Few black metal tendencies remain on Mystic Your Heart, while both bands’ first albums had sections featuring the ferocity and atmosphere (blastbeats and keyboards) of modern/melodic black metal. Once you get here, the band seems to have acknowledged what they do best and give us as much of it as they can stuff into an album.Read more ›